2017年12月19日火曜日

Second
meeting of the Intellectual Property Headquarters New Information Goods
Committee. The proper guardianship and use of AIs. Debating institutional
theories concerning training data, AI programs, and trained models.

AI is a
boom and, while we are unable to anticipate a general or all-purpose AI,
countless individual, single-purpose AIs are being created. The combination of
these is important.

A time
draws near when collective AIs, rather than the wisdom of crowds, demonstrate
their power. ...this is a discussion held with this radically developing
situation in mind.

Industry
uses specialty AIs that bear human knowledge as a mechanism through deep
learning, rather than general-use AIs. This year’s mission is to
anticipate the possibilities therein and consider institutions for using them.
The topic will revolve around such things as exclusive use rights (copyrights),
trade secrets, and contracts.

For
example, copyright infringement of a work that was created by an AI is said to
be a grey area. There are cases which, in the U.S., fall under fair use, but
are illegal in Japan. Even if we were to organize a domestic system, the point
of view considering international competition and usage will grow in
importance.

Committee
Member Miyajima indicated that, as Japan is very cautious about gray areas, it
is important to examine the issue with an eye towards increasing creative work
and business opportunities and to get out that message. Committee Member
Yanagawa commented to note that the balance between guardianship and utility
may be disrupted. I think that’s true.

Committee
Member Shimizu observed that open source is mainstream in the software world
and that the time of copyrights is ending. Also, that PPAP is making money on
derivative works on YouTube. It’s wonderful that the name “Pikotaro” will live
on in the official record of government proceedings.

Committee
Member Seo brought up the issue of a non-human “AI individual”. He suggested
that we anticipate big-picture suppositions about various AIs ranging from
infancy, when the AI is still learning, to adulthood. ...again, a development
that indicates the situation.

Committee
Member Shimizu proposed that Japan is lacking in computational resources.
Therefore, we should organize an environment for everyone to use, what we might
call an “AI Portal”. In response to this, there was also the suggestion that it
would be good to have a “National AI Archive” much like our National Diet
Library. Suddenly, we’ve jumped from institutional theory to policies for
promotion.

Committee
Member Kitsuregawa: This is a contest of controlling data more than it is an
algorithm-like methodology. The written works held by libraries will
become less significant compared to data. We need to raise the priority on
data. Right now, we need to put together a strategy for intensely concentrating
resources such as data, budget, and personnel rather than the legislative
system on the issue.

The work
to solve this equation, which involves so many different variables including
institutions, promotional policy, the advance of technology, and the
international situation, will go on.

2017年12月5日火曜日

The First
Superhuman Sports Games were held at Tokyo Tower. Four superhuman sports
matches were held and six new superhuman sports experience events were held.

Over 0

The
Superhuman Sports Society would like to hold a world tournament of superhuman
sports in 2020 alongside the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. The Superhuman
Sports Games were the starting point for the development of contests and the
cultivation of competitors to that end.

Bubble 1

Tournament
Contest 1, Bubble Jumper

A form of
sumo wrestling in which the wrestlers wear spring stilts on their legs and a
clear elastic bubble over their upper body and collide with each other.

Hado 1

Contest
2, HADO.

A battle
of “energy attacks” realized using augmented reality and motion sensing
technology, in which the contestants wear heads-up displays and sensors on
their arms. Contestants may move freely around the field as they cooperate in
an unfolding 3 vs. 3 battle. They fight in a virtual world by moving their arms
and legs in real life. This game has already been implemented at places such as
Huis Ten Bosch.

Over 1

Contest
3, Hover Crosse.

A
one-on-one ball sport in which contestants take offensive and defensive roles
and use HoverTrax, an electric scooter controlled solely through the shifting
of the user’s body weight, to move about on the field and throw balls into
three goals.

Carry 2

Contest
4, Carry Otto.

A racing
contest in which humans become one with their machines by controlling small
motors with reins. A sport that everyone can participate in from age 3 to 80,
including those who use wheelchairs and those who are intellectually disabled.
The moment you reach the goal decides the match.

Competitors
can sprint using home-made carts or the wheelchairs that they normally use. The
appeal of the contest is that you can freely use any kind of vehicle you like.

ToriTori

Competition
Experience 1, ToriTori.

A local
superhuman sport from Iwate Prefecture. The motif of this competition is the
bird-catcher that appears in Kenji Miyazawa’s novel Night on the Galactic
Railroad. Contestants compete to earn points by using a camera-mounted
drone to capture target drones.

Kart 1

Competition
Experience 2, HADO Kart.

An
augmented reality motorsport in the form of a battle. Contestants wear heads-up
displays and motion sensors while operating scooters and engage in virtual
magical combat against the backdrop of the real world.

Drift 2

Competition
Experience 3, Sli-de-lift.

A race in
which contestants vie with techniques such as drift driving in all-direction
power-assisted wheelchairs. Competitors can seize victory through skillful,
precise, and well-judged sharp maneuvers and tight turns.

Ball 1

Competition
Experience 4, Wheelchair Ball Shooting

Users of
wheelchairs and able-bodied individuals can compete on an even ground in this
ball sport, in which competitors use a ball-shooter instead of their hands. In
a one-on-one battle, competitors use air cannons to get as many balls into the
net over their opponent’s head as they can.

While
this is a serious sport designed to ease the difficulty wheelchair users have
in throwing balls, the light-heartedness does prompt laughter.

Arm

Competition
Experience 6, Rock Hand Battle.

Another
superhuman sport from Iwate. It recreates the combat that appears in an
original comic based on the tale of Mitsuishi Shrine in Morioka City.
Competitors face off wearing large, heavy, boulder-like “rock hands” and
compete to smash the small rocks off of each other’s hands.

2017年11月28日火曜日

Intellectual
Property Headquarters Content Meeting @ Kasumigaseki. This is a new round for
foreign development and infrastructure establishment.

Explanation
of the government’s initiative.

Ministry of
Internal Affairs and Communications, Section Chief Toyoshima: Objective is to
triple the foreign sales of broadcast content by 2018 from 2010 levels. Sales
were on target in 2014, having doubled to ¥14.4 billion. Promote the
maintenance of overseas broadcast quotas and co-production of content. Recently
have begun to see the participation of local stations.

Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, Chief Secretary Takamizu: Offer Japanese dramas and
animated shows for free through the operations of the International Cooperation
Fund. So far have provided 192 programs to broadcasters in 48 countries.

Ministry
of Economy, Trade, and Industry, Section Chief Hirai: Support localization and
promotion of content. 405 companies, representing 36% of all JLOP users, have
expanded abroad for the first time using this structure. Businesses that were
inwardly focused are in the process of spreading abroad.

Ministry
of Economy, Trade, and Industry 2: The Cool Japan organization has invested in
18 cases so far. Provision of money for high-risk/high-return investments. As
METI’s operation for the development of content overseas approaches its tenth
year, it underwent an administrative evaluation review and received a positive
evaluation.

Ministry
of Economy, Trade, and Industry 3: As means for the reinforcement of
infrastructure, the establishment and standardization of digital creation
environments for anime, holding DCEXPO/Innovative Technologies etc.

Ministry
of Economy, Trade, and Industry 4: Revise subcontracting guidelines for the
anime production industry in July. Aim for measures such as documentation of
contracts and public awareness of best practices.

(An
important policy towards the improvement of production working environments,
which are considered poor. This is certainly the task of this administration.)

Well
then, hereafter is the discussion. I’ll pick out several items.

○ Cool
Japan is proceeding forward from the stage of selling content abroad. This is
the period for developing policies that will take us to the next phase and for
hammering out a message, with an eye towards what comes after 2020.

○ A key
point is to continue business after becoming independent of subsidies.

○ Exports
of video games have dropped sharply from ¥700 billion in 2007 to ¥90 billion in
2014. The structure of the industry is also changing. It is unclear how long
the government’s policies will continue and it is important to brace for a time
when they will no longer be in effect.

○ The
infrastructure of industry groups is also frail and is becoming dependent upon
the national supplementary budget. A major policy for the mid-to-long term is
necessary. The effectiveness of policies coordinating with government agencies
is important, but interdepartmental cooperation within agencies is also not
functioning.

○ Liaison
conferences etc. must be established linking government agencies. It would also
be good if industry groups could be optimized and reorganized via mergers etc.

○ It is
becoming difficult to convey the appeal of the content industry to students in
the intellectual property educational setting at universities. An important
theme is how to position content within education at schools.

○ It
would be good to create a message and content, such as anime that depict the
near future of content, that demonstrate the future of content and the content
industry.

○
Companies that are good at producing documentation are the ones that make
money. But the people we want to give our money to are different. Japanese
content relies on the creativity of individuals. It is extremely difficult to
discover these individuals. It’s important to create a space for the purpose of
discovering new creators. The CJ organization should have a mechanism for
recruiting works and reviewing the open net.

○ Nobel
Prize-winners are all good at writing up documents. Those who are bad at it get
forgotten.